Oddworld: Zeeron's Tale
by Facsimile
Summary: The story of a Slig working at RuptureFarms during Abe's escape. All he wants is freedom but he doesn't have much luck.


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Oddworld: Zeeron's Tale

It's all so quiet; there's nobody around. Not even any workers. How could it be so easy? Zeeron walks up to the main gate's electric wall. Disarmed? "What's going on?" he thinks over and over. This is it, now or never. All that's standing between him and freedom is a dimly lit tunnel. Zeeron sprints as hard as he can, aiming for the light at the end of the tunnel. He begins to slow down, but not to his will. He puts everything he has into running, but slower and slower he goes, it is as if his body is not under his control, the light fades away and he collapses onto the ground. 

All of a sudden, breaking the perfect silence, the deafening sound of the alarms wailing floods his brain. He cannot move so he just closes his eyes and waits for his inevitable demise. The drumming of the machine guns begin and as his body is ripped apart by metal slugs, all he can think is, Freedom, so close to freedom…"

***

THUD

A kick in the side decides freedom doesn't last very long…

The alarms were still going off. Zeeron opened his eyes to see the room flashing red and Sligs running everywhere all armed with standard-issue machine guns and all suited up in pants.

"What the…."

'Wheeoo' the sirens howled.

"… is going on?" asked Zeeron to the world in general.

His question was answered by Brater, his long time 'friend', if you could call it that. It was the kind of friendship where you watched each other's back, and as soon as theirs was facing you, you shot them.

Brater was just like the other Sligs, never disobeys an order, 'accidentally' kills slave Mudokons by saying his gun goes off by itself sometimes and would never think twice about the outside world. He is also responsible for Zeeron's soon to be, bruise.

"Mudokon," explained Brater as he pointed to a screen with a picture of an unusually blue Mud holding a card reading 'Abe'. "Overheard a board meeting and is trying to escape, the Glukkons are pissed. All Sligs are to report to their posts immediately." He ran off down a hall.

Zeeron sighed and crawled over to the lockers and smacked the bright green button. Within moments he was suited up in his mechanical legs and he walked over to the gun dispenser. Armed and ready he walked out of the dormitories and headed for his station.

He passes a Wanna-Be Glukkon shouting orders. The Gluk glares at Zeeron, "Move faster worm!"

"Yeah, yeah," Zeeron replied. He pulls the finger to the Gluk and began to jog down the hall.

"I'll remember that!" he shouted after him.

Zeeron began to make his way through the Zulags, heading for number 4. This was his third time today taking the Zulag transports. Damn this 'Abe', why did he try his dash for freedom during the night? If Zeeron ever decided to make his move, he would do it so no one even new he was gone, _he_ wouldn't want to disturb anyone from their sleep. He liked working the day shift. RuptureFarms was a lot quieter at night so it was easier to sleep.

Sleep. FLASH. He remembered his dream; the light, the running, the death. It had frightened him. He often had dreams of escape and the outside world but they never ended like that. He had heard that dreams sometimes have hidden meanings, but he would never believe that crap.

CLUNK. The Zulag transporter reaches Zulag 4 but Zeeron was so wrapped up in his thoughts that the jolt unbalanced him and threw him to the floor.

"Huhuhu," another passenger laughed.

Zeeron squeezed his trigger and three shots fire past the Slig's head and bounced off the steel wall behind him. He shut up.

As he was walking to his post he passed almost double the usual amount of guards. This really was something big.

Zeeron was a pretty high ranked Slig. He had no idea why, he hadn't done anything special and he was a smart-ass to his Glukkon superiors, and yet he guarded the door to the main power shut off room. He thought this was less for his skills and more so the Gluks could keep an eye on him. Zeeron was rather paranoid about this, he believed they had a profile on him. He had every right to be, they did.

***

The boardroom's door was sealed shut, the RuptureFarms executives would never let another incident like that happen again.

The meeting had resumed, a new agenda on the table. A Wanna-Be Glukkon stood in the center of the room, everyone was silenced.

"He has proven to be quite the strong minded Slig, and may cause us problems in the future… he does not follow our views," explained the youngish Gluk.

The executives laughed.

"Why do you waste our time with such petty issues?" questioned one of them.

"We are in the middle of a crisis, slaves are disappearing everywhere and all you care about is some worthless Slig who you have a grudge against! Get out now!!!" shouted another.

A Slig standing beside Mullock pulled a lever and the door opened. The Wanna-Be stood startled for a moment, until he heard the low growl of a Slog. He quickly hopped away.

Outside stood his personal assistant. "What'd they say?" he asked.

The Gluk continued to walk, his assistant ran and caught up. 

They had been walking in silence for a minute or two. "They told me I could handle it anyway I wanted," he lied.

"That's great, let's do him, right now!" the Slig said excitedly.

"No."

The Slig looked at him questioningly.

"I want him to suffer." That'll make me feel better about the embarrassment in front of the board, he added in his head.

"Oh boy!" said the Slig as he took off down the walkway.

***

'It's not like this Abe will be coming through here, he's trying to escape, not get caught. I wanna go to sleep,' thought Zeeron, who was pacing slowly up and down.

He had stopped for a rest when the monitor in the corner of the room flicked on. Zeeron lifted his head to watch it.

The Announcer Slig picked up his microphone and began to speak.

"You're watching Magog On the March: News you can use.

Our latest update: All guards are in search of Abe, who is currently trying to escape from RuptureFarms, Mudokon employees are disappearing into nowhere. Hear what CEO Mullock, has to say."

The screen behind the Slig turns on and the camera zooms. A calm and collected Glukkon stands in front of his desk, smoking a cigar. "Abe, if you are watching this, pay special attention. Turn yourself in immediately, or we will begin killing your Mudokon pals." He let out an evil laugh and the camera switched back to Announcer Slig.

"This message brought to you by ButtFlo: For when u wanna go!

The screen switched off.

Zeeron stood for a moment then continued his pacing.

Behind him there was a shout of "Do it!" and running of mechanical legs but before he could turn around… SMACK. Zeeron was knocked out cold by the handle of a gun and fell to the floor. The Wanna-Be Glukkon laughed and laughed as his assistant dragged him out the door.

They dragged him through all of the Zulags, knocking his on any possible bumps, and dumped him on a platform opposite the Barrel Room back entrance. The platform could only be reached by the pulley elevator. And no one ever came back here anyway. The Slig gave him a couple of extra whacks and took his master down the elevator.

"See you tomorrow, you rat," said the Gluk and began to laugh evilly.

"But he won't be able to get down boss."

"That's the whole point you idiot!"

"Oh. Now I get. That is kind of funny. Hahaha."

The Glukkon knew he didn't get it but carried on laughing anyway.

***

The sound of nearby explosions stirred Zeeron in his sleep. But the sound of Mudokon feet hitting metal across the room woke him up immediately. Sligs were trained for these sorts of things. Immediately he jumped up, and was fast enough to see a blue Mud rolling in to the Barrel Room and splashing in to one. It's Abe he thought to himself. 

He shouted, "Freeze!" but it was too late, he was well gone. "Damn."

As he looked around he realized he had no idea where he was. What had happened? How did he get here? He walked over to the edge of the platform and looked down. He was pretty high up. When he looked up he could see an elevator. I'm stuck, I can't reach the elevator and the fall will kill me, he thought, Whoever put me here is gonna pay.

He sat down to think of what to do, when he heard a faint buzz. He got up and looked over the edge. He could see a Boom! Grenade dispenser below. His hopes sank, how would that save him. He once again sat down searching for an idea, when the buzz got louder. That's strange the grenade machine wasn't getting clos-

How could I be so stupid? Boom!s don't buzz, they beep, what buzzes are security orbs!

"Help!" yelled Zeeron.

Nothing happened.

He yelled again.

The buzz began to get louder. Soon the orb hovered around the corner and faced him. Its red light switched to green. This meant it was in security camera mode.

Zeeron thought, if I tell it I'm stuck, it's gonna fly away again, leaving me here to die. But if I tell it… yes.

"I've seen Abe, I've seen Abe," he told it.

Seconds later the elevator was lowered.

***

Back in the RuptureFarms boardroom, Zeeron had told his story and the executives were discussing it. The mood was a lot lighter than before. So what did it matter that Abe escaped? The only damage done was the 28 slaves he took with him. Sam could easily replace them.

But the board wasn't happy with everyone.

Mullock's Slig pulled the lever and a hesitant Wanna-Be Glukkon entered with his Slig assistant.

Zeeron recognized him and instantly realized how he got on the platform.

"Bastard," he whispered as he walked past.

The Gluk growled.

"Do you know why you're here?" asked a black suited exec.

"I dealt with a troublesome guard, the way anyone would," he replied, his voice quivering.

"Is that so? That means that if I were in your situation, I would go and take a guard, which by the way was guarding the door to the room with the MAIN POWER SHUT DOWN BUTTON IN IT!!! And knock him unconscious so he is useless to anyone while we have a wanted slave running around our complex?!"

The young Gluk didn't say anything, he just turned around and began to hop for the door.

Mullock gave a nod and his Slig turned from the green door lever to a red one. The Wanna-Be reached the doorway and the Slig pulled. The archway roof charged and shot a bolt of electricity to the floor and he dematerialized in mid hop.

All eyes were now on his assistant who made a run for it. He stopped suddenly as he remembered about the zapper. He then sprinted over it as fast as possible and was ground up a little down the hall by a meat saw.

***

The next day things were pretty much back to normal. There had no more sighting of Abe.

Zeeron was back at his normal post, but it had changed: Every three feet order bombs had been placed and the kennels had been loaded up with about 100 more slogs. He was told that they were put here because of his absence and now they had nowhere to put them all.

Zeeron had caught up with most of his sleep while knocked out but he still hoped he wouldn't get anymore interruptions.

He never had much luck.

The ground started shaking and chaos broke loose. Sligs were crawling around calling for help, Slogs were barking and howling and mines were exploding. Zeeron woke up thinking, Not again.

The shaking stopped half a minute later and an announcement was broadcast over the intercoms for everyone to get to their posts. Even Zeeron was pants'd and armed quickly, for he had a strange feeling about this.

Soon after arriving the monitor switched on to show a M.O.M update:

Announcer Slig stood with his microphone to his mouth ready to deliver the message.

"You're watching Magog On the March: News you can't abuse.

News Flash! Terrorist Abe has re-entered RuptureFarms with a new agenda; destroying it. Here is footage captured moments ago."

The screen behind him flicked on.

The infamous Mud enters the room with a sort of dark blue aura around him. Guards and bombs surround the place but he does not seem worried. He takes a few steps into the room and stops moving altogether and closes his eyes.

He began to change. His arms and legs become a reddish colour and his chest goes green. A leg grows from his lower back and he sprouts tentacle like things from his head. His mouth opens and extends to reveal hundreds of sharp teeth. His muscles bulge. It is incredibly hard to believe he was once a scrawny Mudokon.

His huge mouth lets out a deafening roar and spirit energy explodes from his body, streaming out power that fries Slig guards, detonates mines and disintegrates security orbs. When everything is gone one last bolt comes straight for the camera. Static.

The Announcer Slig resumed the monitor with his mouth gaping, staring at the screen.

"You're on!" shouted a Gluk in the background.

"Oh yeah," he said and turned around. "That was Abe turning in to Shir… Shrykull. Did I say that right? Oh well it doesn't matter, because, lets face it, you're all screwed.

This message brought to you by-"

He was cut off when the monitor fell from the wall and smashed onto the floor. The shaking had begun again.

At that moment every Slig all over RuptureFarms cried, "Help!" and took off running. But the Glukkons would not have this so the lever was pulled and the gates everywhere were closed and locked.

It just so happened that on this day Brater had been assigned to his new position of guarding the main electrical gates. He also ran. ZAP.

And so Zeeron waited, there was nothing else he could do.

An hour or so had passed, when he heard footsteps. He stopped, looked around and listened.

He then heard the clap of hands coming together and a humming noise.

***

The humming noise began to get louder and louder until it sounded to Zeeron as if it was surrounding him.

He was looking up to where it was coming from when an odd blue stream came through the roof and flew straight for him. He dived to the left and it shot past him. He got up and ran to the other side of the room but the thing was faster and it cornered him. He couldn't do anything so he just let himself be engulfed by it. His body began to shake and the psychic influx invaded every cell in his body.

His head throbbed; it felt like it was going to explode. He was aware that he was not in control of his body as he walked over to the door lever against his will. His consciousness had split into two; one was in his uncontrollable body and the other in his possessor's.

Zeeron searched through the other's memory banks to find it was Abe who was manipulating him. He kept searching through Abe's life and saw much the same as he had; a life inside the walls of RuptureFarms. His body pulled the lever and began to walk past the Slog kennels to security lever 2. Zeeron kept searching until he found something so stunningly beautiful to him that he stopped and looked over it again and again. It was the wilderness, the lands of the free, Mosaic Lines, Paramonia and Scrabania. This had settled it, as soon as he was out of this mess he was going to make his break for freedom.

His body was at the lever and as it pulled the kennel doors shot up. From both sides, snarling, viscious slogs came running. Abe lifted Zeeron's arms and pulled on the trigger of his machine gun. The first three Slogs dropped dead in front of him as he turned to take out the ones behind. He began to spin around, holding his finger on the trigger taking them out, but they kept coming. He had been fighting them off for about a minute, when the last one came at him. BANG. One shot in the head and his limp body skidded along the floor. Abe stopped for a breather before walking Zeeron over the mound of Slogs that lay in their path.

The door to the power shut off room was now open and as he walked through Zeeron saw for his first time the button that could cripple RuptureFarms. The bark of Slogs made Abe raise the gun once more to knock off the few hounds guarding the room.

There were a couple of rows of mines in front of them and since Sligs mechanical pants had not yet been given the ability to jump, Zeeron knew Abe had no further use for him. Thank the odd, he thought, this horrible pain will be over. But when Abe took a few steps back and began to run towards the mines, he got worried.

It was like his dream in a way, but this time he was trying to stop himself _stop_ himself from running. He was one step away from them when he screamed "Nooo!" to the bastard controlling him, but it was too late.

The last thing he heard as his body exploded and his head got propelled across the room was the sound of a Mudokon laughing, "Hehehe."

****

The End


End file.
